MEDICA 2020 and COMPAMED 2020, the world-leading information and communication platforms for the medical technology industry and supplier industry for the medical technology industry, will take place entirely online from 16 to 19 November. Within the framework of ‘virtual.MEDICA’ and ‘virtual.COMPAMED’, decision-makers from all sectors of the healthcare industry can then expect a comprehensive range of products and services at virtual.MEDICA.de and virtual.COMPAMED.de consisting of three focal areas: The Conference Area (conference and forum program), the Exhibition Space (for exhibitors and product innovations) and the Networking Plaza (networking/ matchmaking). The next events, MEDICA 2021 and COMPAMED 2021, will be held as a hybrid event next year. The hybrid concept consists of combining live platforms for professional visitors to the Düsseldorf trade fair centre and digital offers.

“Our hygiene and infection protection plan was positively received by the exhibitors and the successive relaxations of the international travel rules in early summer meant that we had realistic hopes that both trade fairs would be able to be held successfully and safely. The development of the global pandemic must now, however, be re-evaluated. Against the backdrop of a multitude of travel limitations and considering the very international demographic of MEDICA and COMPAMED in terms of both exhibitors and visitors, we must now focus solely on the virtual format this year”, explains Wolfram Diener, Chairman and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf.

“The essence of the MEDICA and COMPAMED brand is global broadcasting for exhibitors and visitors. This central core is still present this year, just not in the form of an event that demands physical presence, due to the pandemic. With the annual rotation of MEDICA and COMPAMED, we are now staying in touch with our customers by creating a comprehensive virtual and globally accessible market place for the community with a high-profile programme. This is a good starting point for the joint launch in the trade show year 2021, when we will again offer the successful combination of live platforms for trade visitors at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Center and digital offerings,” Wolfram Diener continues.

In recent years, we have repeatedly found that a total of over 80% of our exhibitors have come from abroad, from around 70 different nations. Our visitors come from around 170 nations, putting our proportion of international visitors at 70%. Both events together brought in a total of over 6,300 exhibitors and 121,000 professional visitors last year.

Laying an excellent foundation with established online portals

“Over the past few years, we have constantly expanded our digital offers and therefore have established internet-based industry platforms in the form of our MEDICA and COMPAMED web portals. We can now implement these in order to offer our customers the appropriate tools for networking and facilitating the valuable transfer of knowledge, even in these challenging times” emphasises Horst Giesen, Global Portfolio Director for Health & Medical Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf.

“On the dates of MEDICA 2020 and COMPAMED 2020, we will seek out the best elements for streaming from the 600 previously planned sessions for the specialist forums and conferences, working together with our cooperating associations and partners. Participants can expect to see highlights with high relevance to Corona in particular in these virtual formats. In addition, there will be diverse web presentations from exhibitors on their innovations and an online matchmaking area for making valuable business contacts, including a video web meeting function” promises Horst Giesen, giving an overview of the agenda.

The content of the MEDICA specialist program has its finger firmly on the pulse, with digital program events relating to technical, economic and healthcare policy trends and queries this year. The MEDICA forums include the following: the MEDICA CONNECTED HEALTHCARE FORUM, the MEDICA HEALTH IT FORUM, the MEDICA LABMED FORUM, the MEDICA TECH FORUM, the MEDICA ECON FORUM and the COMPAMED HIGH-TECH FORUM and the COMPAMED SUPPLIERS FORUM.